Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums  

I think the torches and pitchforks can go back in the shed for now.

Carroll Shelby, no stranger to speed, has expressed concern. As a race driver, he won the 24-hour race at Le Mans, France, and a national driving championship. His Shelby Automobiles Company added muscle to Ford cars in the late 1960's and now produces higher-performance versions of some Chrysler models.

Mr. Shelby argues that most drivers are incapable of handling cars with 400 horsepower. (None of his approach that figure). He said:

''You get a bunch of 18-year-old kids out in those things, and they're a menace. And if you get the insurance people and the Government bureaucrats riled up, they'll shut the whole performance industry down the way they did before. I'm scared we're going to commit suicide again.''

The point of the ZR-1, Mr. Stempel said, is to demonstrate that G.M. can produce a very fast car while still meeting all emission and fuel economy rules - a feat that has eluded foreign manufacturers.

But Joseph White, writing in the Wall Street Journal, dug a bit deeper in the EPA’s report to find a few startling figures:

Compared with 1987, the average weight of the vehicle we drive has risen by 923 pounds, or 29%. The average time it takes for a vehicle to go from zero to 60 miles per hour time has dropped to 9.6 seconds--the fastest since the EPA started compiling this data in 1975. Our average car or truck has 223 horsepower, and the most horsepower per pound on record.

...If 2007 cars were as light on average as 1981 cars, our national average car fuel economy (according to the unadjusted EPA lab figures) would be 13% better than current reality. If 2007 model trucks were the same weight as the average for 1981, their fuel efficiency rating would be 35% better.

There's alot of truth in that post Paul, especially the quote from Shelby.  Most drivers, especially someone the OP's age, have no need for a car with that much power.  I kind of question his dad's thought process too for thinking it's reasonable to help his kids put together (or try and put together) cars with this kind of power to drive on the street. 
Sorry, but any kid of mine will NEVER have a car available to them like that to drive, period.

Actually a engine capable of 500hp can get as good as mileage as a 200hp one... Trick is to never tromp the throttle and produce more than 200hp... Wonder what odds in Vegas would be on such a deal???

When I sprayed my Bird with the 150hp shot of nitrous and produced somewhere near 500hp, it was absolutely wild... Even a 85 shot and a bit over 425Hp, it was all the Nitto Drag Radials could handle... Normal street tires were useless...